The New Orleans Saints don't feel like Super Bowl contenders at this exact moment. Not after back-to-back 7-9 seasons. Not with that defense that has been so abysmal in recent years.

But coach Sean Payton isn't going anywhere. Quarterback Drew Brees isn't going anywhere. And that gives the Saints a huge advantage over so many other teams struggling to find consistency at one or both of those vital spots.

Everything else ranks a distant third.

Payton revealed Wednesday he has agreed to a new five-year contract through 2020, and a source told ESPN NFL Insider Ed Werder that Payton will get a pay increase to more than $9 million per year.

As Payton said, the contract was a bit of a "formality." The bigger moment came in January when Payton strongly re-committed to the franchise after a tense few months of speculation that he might leave for another team.

Still, this is the latest good vibration in an offseason that seems to have the Saints pointed back in the right direction after they hit a rut in 2014 and felt the need to overhaul the character and culture of their locker room.

Brees' own contract extension should come soon since talks have been heating up in recent weeks. And though he's 37 years old, he's still playing like one of the NFL's elite quarterbacks and might just keep doing it through 2020 himself.

The Saints still have an awful lot of work to do if they hope to get back to those "glory days" of 2009-11. They have only three players left from their 2009 Super Bowl roster after parting ways with two all-time greats, receiver Marques Colston and guard Jahri Evans.

But the Saints were in much more dire straits when Payton and Brees first arrived in New Orleans 10 years ago -- coming off of a 3-13 season and wondering if they'd even be able to keep the franchise in New Orleans long term in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

They stunned the NFL by quickly overhauling the roster and reaching the first NFC Championship Game in franchise history right away in 2006. Three years later, they won the Super Bowl.

That's how big of an impact a coach and quarterback can have. And that's why the Saints can't be discounted as long as they have Payton and Brees.

Success won't come easy the second time around -- as the Saints have learned over the past two years.

Father Time and the salary cap have conspired to erode much of their Super Bowl core. And they haven't had nearly as much success in free agency or the draft in recent years, racking up more "dead money" against the cap than any team in the NFL for two consecutive years.

Perhaps all of those factors led Payton to strongly consider a change of scenery at the end of last season.

Payton ultimately decided, however, that the grass isn't always greener elsewhere -- at least not in any of the cities that would have been willing to pay him $9 million per year and trade a premium draft choice or two as compensation.

No matter what it was that compelled Payton to stay, he has seemed to be genuinely committed and enthusiastic about starting off this second decade the same way he started off the first decade. And there is an overwhelming sense that the Saints' 7-9 in 2015 feels different than their 7-9 in 2014.

Everyone from Payton, to general manager Mickey Loomis, to Brees and other players raved about the improved character and culture in the locker room last year. And the team is very high on its nine-man draft class from 2015, while hoping to hit on another good one next month.

They've still got a lot of holes to fill.

But for a little while longer, at least, coach and quarterback aren't among them.